The role of the Shellfish Kinetics Research Project component of this Center proposal is to: develop a predictive understanding of the physical, ecological and organismal processes that regulate the opportunity for benthic bivalves to accumulate and bind domoic acid as a result of filter feeding Pseudo-nitzschia spp. and other microscopic algae bearing marine toxins. The overall objective is to integrate the oceanography and domoic acid on the Pacific Coast and oceanography and domoic acid in Puget Sound investigations with the human health and risk assessment components of the Center (see Human Exposure Research Project and the Informatics Facility Core). The investigators will directly interface with the oceanography and domoic acid in Puget Sound component through the comparison of acute domoic acid toxicity along the coast (where domoic acid is an acute problem) to the Puget Sound (where there are only chronic low-level exposures, with essentially no acute domoic acid toxicity). To achieve these goals the investigators have separated the Shellfish Kinetics Research Project into two projects. Project 1 will focus on comparisons between offshore/neritic and nearshore regions, with the specific goal of understanding the mechanisms underlying the flux of toxic algae from the water column into near shore benthic bivalves. The second project seeks to follow the consequence of bivalve assimilation of domoic acid.
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